Chapter Two - Empty Room, Empty Heart (Jake.)

He woke up, upset at himself. He had the same dream that he had had for the same 6 months, 2 weeks and 4 days. She would see him, then hug him. As soon as they were going to kiss, he awoke. He stared at his clock. It was 5 a.m. his time, 10 a.m. her time.

He switched his glance to the only picture he owned. It was of 3 people. Two, who were madly in love, not only with each other, but with the third person who was in the picture.

His daughter, Jenny, then 10 months old, was in her cradle, in between her number one fans.

Him, her father…

And Peyton, the love of his life.

He looked blankly at the picture remembering exactly where and when that picture had been taken. It had been exactly one month since he had returned to Tree Hill, Nikki-free. It was the day of the filming of the time capsule. The day he realized he had fallen in love with Peyton. After school, they decided to take Jenny out. He had the most fun he had had in a long time. Which could be surprising to some people, considering he was at a park for kids. But they didn't know that he was spending his day with the two people he loved most in the world, Jenny and Peyton.

But now, they both were gone…

And he was slowly falling apart without them.

He got changes and sat down with the laptop that he had borrowed from a passing friend. He set up an e-mail, but an un-obvious one. He used the nickname that everyone would think wasn't him. Tutorgirl06. One of his closest friends, Haley had phoned him one time last year and asked him to come back and see Peyton. Tutorgirl, was her nickname. The 06, stood for Lucas, it was the 6th of October when Lucas phoned him, begging him to come and see Peyton. Lucas was really worried about her, and thought that Jake could make her feel better. Thanks to Lucas, they fell in love. He signed in, and saw her e-mail…she was online.

Just talk to her. Don't. Why not? Because you'll cause her too much pain. I love her. Let her forget about you. I don't want her to!

His mind fought back and forth. He didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't want to lose her. He finally started typing.

Tutorgirl06: Peyton?

Tutorgirl06: Peyton, it's Jake.

He sat in front of the computer for an hour, no reply.

She moved on, he thought.

He closed the laptop and walked over to his picture, kissed his hand and placed it on the picture.

"I love you Peyton." Jake murmured.

Jake turned and left his lonely hotel room. To face the world without Jenny…without Peyton.